Four Seasons x 2 | Dubai

the Dubai skyline, seen from a terrace at Four Seasons Jumeirah Beach, copyright (c) 2016 by David Ourisman

Can you name the destinations with more than one Four Seasons hotel? This is somewhat of a trick question, as the number is ambiguous.

The Lodge at Koele is currently closed, so does Lana'i count?

Canary Wharf is apparently leaving Four Seasons, so London is currently two but will soon be one.

The Regent Singapore is part of the Four Seasons portfolio, but it can't be booked on the FS website, so does Singapore count?

That leaves Istanbul, Cairo, Bali, the Maldives, Shanghai ... and, in nineteen days, Dubai.


Four Seasons at Jumeirah Bay has been open a bit more than one year. Both a beach hotel and a city hotel, its identity as an urban resort is made clear by the photo above. It's the rare beach hotel whose most interesting view looks away from the water, but that's exactly the case at FS Jumeirah Bay. I took the photograph above from the balcony of my fourth floor Premier Skyline room. Double-click on the picture to see a larger version! Some of Dubai's 911 skyscrapers can be seen through the wrought iron railing of the patio, including the Burj Khalifa Tower that rises 2,722 feet into the air.

It's a wonderful city hotel with elegant public spaces. Guest rooms are large with the kind of casual, comfortable elegance that fans of Four Seasons have come to expect.

And soon there will be two. In nineteen days, March 21, 2016, Four Seasons DIFC will open its doors to its first guests. I had a pre-opening site inspection on Monday and was impressed with this hotel in the Gate Village area of downtown Dubai. This hotel and its room product is aimed at business travelers to the Dubai International Financial Center. A boutique hotel with just 106 rooms, FS DIFC will stress personal service. Superior and Deluxe rooms are designed with single business travelers in mind. The room design is warm, informal, and comfortable, decorating with earth tones and light brown wood.

I predict that Firebird Diner by Michael Mina will be a hit with the lunch crowd in Gate Village as well as hotel guests. It resembles the diner in Grease, complete with black and white square tiles, a jukebox, and half of a Pontiac Firebird embedded in the wall.

copyright  (c)  2016 by David Ourisman LLC.  All rights reserved. We provide Virtuoso and other Preferred Partner amenities as an affiliate of Brownell Travel. If you have comments on this column, or questions about booking travel, email me or visit my website.